Charms

Chapter 7

Alice sat down to put her skates on; while Clark tightened his wheels.

“Maybe you should take the smaller ramp.” Clark suggested.

“Clark, she’s already gone.”

“What?” He turned to find Ellie; she was on top of the 16 foot ramp. He raised his eyebrow and folded his arms.

Ellie picked up the board, tested the wheels then placed the end of the board on the edge of the ramp and positioned her feet. She looked over at Clark and Alice. She took a deep breath and put her full weight on the nose of the board making her advance down the ramp. Ellie showed off the tricks that she knew, Alice had already joined her but Clark was left there in awe. Once Ellie had finished, she took the board in her hand and waved Clark over. He attempted to cover how shocked he was, but it was written all over him, he was impressed. He joined Ellie at the top of the ramp and placed his board down.

“Maybe you should try the little one first.” She joked.

“Screw you.”

He placed his feet on the board and sped down the ramp. Ellie had only seen the professionals do the moves that Clark was performing, but he was executing them elegantly; the moves were defined and graceful. Ellie laughed at herself thinking of Clark as elegant and managed to disturb Clark’s focus. He came to a stop and glared at her. He grabbed his board, ran up the ramp and perched on the edge. Ellie joined him, watching Alice teach herself new tricks. She was not as elegant as Clark, though she put that down to the fact that she had not had time to master the tricks.

“Not bad for someone who only had a few ramps in her old town.”

“I had a lot of spare time.”

“Meaning, you made no friends.” He chuckled.

“No” She protested “I didn’t want to make friends.”

“Why not?”

Ellie rolled her eyes; Clark did not care about being rude or intrusive.

“Because, I knew that weren’t going to be there long, so I didn’t see the point in making it harder to leave.”

“What about here?”

“What about it?”

“Why have you made friends here?”

“I don’t think I had any choice, there a pros and cons to having you guys as friends.”

“And they are?”

“Well for one, I basically have a bodyguard” She laughed.

“And Alice?”

“I don’t have to be put with someone who will attack me in P.E”

“Thanks Ellie, I appreciate your kind words.” Alice giggled then continued to skate.

“And the cons?”

“I will miss you two when we move again.”

“Who says that you will move?”

“Because that’s my life and luck” She sighed.

“It might be different.”

“I doubt it.”

Ellie let out a deep breath and stood up to skate.

“Aw, isn’t that cute guys?” Jason’s voice rang though both Ellie’s and Clark’s ears.

“Great.” Clark breathed.

“You’re a perfect couple, two freaks living happily ever after.”

Alice stopped in front of Jason and pushed him.

“Back off Jason.”

“Touch me again pixie and I’ll pull out the fly swatter.”

“That’s enough Jason.” A powerful voice came from the hut.

Max stepped out wielding a metal poll.

“Oh, your hippy to the rescue. Come on guys, we’ll get them later.”

Ellie felt helpless, even her petite friend had the guts to step up to Jason. She searched around her and picked up a small stone and launched it towards him. It made contact but whether it hurt she did not know.

“You’ll regret that Lanzét.”

‘Lanzét that’s the second time that has been mentioned’

The next morning, Ellie woke to the sound of the doorbell.

“Since when did we have a doorbell?” She groaned.

She slid her legs over the edge of the bed and hauled herself up. She made it half way down the stairs when the doorbell rang again.

“I’m coming.” She moaned.

She dragged her feet on the floor and opened the door. The sunlight made her squint, Clark stepped forward creating a shadow across her face, she shook her head in disappointment and stepped back letting him in. She grunted at him as he walked past her.

“I’m sorry, what was that? I don’t speak caveman.”

“Hilarious.” She yawned.

He lifted his arms, dangling a greased bag with a bagel inside and a cup of coffee. She took the bagel, took a bite and put the coffee on a table nearby.

“Wait here and don’t touch anything.”

He raised his hands trying to look innocent. Ellie scampered upstairs, put more appropriate clothes on and bunged her hair up into a messy ponytail. She returned to find Clark looking at the recently put up photos of her.

“I told you not to touch anything.”

“I’m not.” He protested.

She shot a wicked look at him. She could see him trying to fight a laugh as he spotted a picture of her as a child.

“You had a mullet as a child?”

“Shut up and let’s go.”

She grabbed the coffee from the table and left.

Jason had kept his word; she did regret throwing the stone at him. At school, Jason had planned his revenge, though it was not as bad as she had prepared herself for.Every time a friend of Jason had walked past her they would nudge her into the locker, some of them were considerate only knocking her gently but the majority use as much force as they could. Jason had a lot of friends; so by the time of the fifth person, a bruise started to form. Other than being knocked into lockers and being pushed continuously in a circle of Jason’s ‘friends’ like a game of human ping pong, school was not as bad as she had thought it was going to be. Actually having friends made the experience worth it and she was looking forward to going the next day. The final bell rang; Ellie packed her bag and left for the statue. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket; she took it out and read the message from the unknown sender. ‘Meet me behind the school on the patio, Clark x’. She made her way to the patio, expecting to find Clark but instead she saw Jason stood there with an evil smile across his face. Ellie turned to run away when she saw two of Jason’s friends appear around the corner, she searched for a clear path but everywhere she looked she saw more people closing in on her. She was cornered.